Siblings Get Accepted into Fort Worth Medical School in Back-to-Back Years

FORT WORTH – There’s a common saying, “lightning never strikes the same place twice.”

For the Al-Adli family, when it comes to getting into medical school, lightning did strike twice.

“It is a rarity and a blessing to get into medical school because the odds are slim enough,” said Nadeem Al-Adli, 23, a second-year medical student at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

The odds of getting accepted to at least one medical school in 2020 was 42.3%, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC).

So, it felt a bit surreal for Nadeem when he got the call from his older sister Aya, 24, that she had also been accepted at the the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine.

The siblings from Sugarland, Texas, a suburb of Houston, took different paths to get to medical school. While Nadeem was accepted into medical school first, Aya decided to take some time to build a stronger resume.

After graduating from high school, Aya attended the University of Houston and received a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Public Health. Once she graduated in 2018, she worked at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“I was working in research and I was going through the application process,” Aya said. “I kind of had to look at the schools comprehensively. I wanted to know (about) the curriculum.”

During her medical school search, she was drawn to the Fort Worth medical school because of its unique curriculum such as a four-year immersion of communication skills with The Compassionate Practice™; the Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship that begins in the first year of medical school; a four-year research project; and being matched with a Physician Development Coach.

“Pre-med and medical school is cutthroat. It’s competitive. But this medical school was taking a different approach,” Aya said. “They kind of made it seem like we’re all a family and we’re in it together.”

With some guidance and input from Aya, Nadeem’s medical school search was already in motion during his senior year at San Diego State University in May 2019.

“I had some set interest in medicine prior to applying to medical school and I really wanted to go to a program that really would adapt to students’ needs,” Nadeem said. “I liked the fact that we’re a new school. I like to make my footprint where I am and this school would give me the best opportunity to do so.”

Nadeem wasn’t alone in his decision-making process in San Diego. His best friend Griffin Rechter, who grew up with him in Sugar Land, was also at SDSU and applying to medical schools.

In Spring 2019, Nadeem received a phone call from an unknown phone number as he stood in line with Griffin waiting to get into a music festival in Southern California.

“I didn’t actually answer it because I had been getting a lot of telemarketers calling me that week,” Nadeem said. “It was so loud in the line I had to read the voicemail transcription on my phone. It said, ‘Congratulations you’ve been axe-cepted,’ It misspelled accepted.”

He stepped away to listen to the voicemail and the excitement began to set in. Moments later, Griffin got the same phone call.

“We’re all like, ‘Answer it! Answer it,” Nadeem said. “Sure enough, he talked to the admissions committee and it was all very exciting. To be able to come back to Texas and go to the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, it felt like I was back home again. I’m a Texas man at heart and I love Texas so there wasn’t going to be anything better than that.”

Getting that acceptance call from the Fort Worth medical school was like stepping off a rollercoaster ride, Nadeem said.

“Going through that process and receiving waitlist and interview invitations and rejections…was very much a rollercoaster,” Nadeem said. “My parents and my family were with me through that rollercoaster. Aya was with me through that rollercoaster. Finally, reaching the end of that rollercoaster didn’t seem real.”

As Nadeem and Griffin began their first year of medical school in July 2019 in Fort Worth, Aya was ready to jump aboard a rollercoaster of her own and begin applying to various medical schools. While she looked at each school on her list comprehensively, the firsthand knowledge from Nadeem about his experience at the Fort Worth medical school carried some weight in her decision.

“Hearing about how all those unique attributes that the school has made me think a lot more about applying there,” Aya said. “The school just had a supportive nature.”

She conducted interviews with a few medical schools across the country.  Prior to her Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) session in Fort Worth, Nadeem and Griffin reversed roles with Aya and became the “big brothers” guiding her on her journey.

“Nadeem took me out to dinner the night before. Griffin also joined us, which was really nice,” Aya said. “They really helped calm my pre-interview jitters and used my love for food as a distraction.”

The next morning, Nadeem dropped her off and picked her up from her MMI.

“I traveled to my other interviews alone so it was really nice to have my support system physically present during such an intimidating process,” Aya said. “I always viewed both of them as my ‘little’ brothers growing up but it’s humbling now that the roles are reversed and they are looking out for me.”

A few months later, Aya had finished working her shift at MD Anderson Cancer Center heading home in bumper-to-bumper traffic in Houston when she got a phone call.

“Nadeem’s call said unknown caller but mine actually said Fort Worth, Texas but I still thought it was a telemarketer as well,” Aya said. “I answered the phone and instantly I just felt my heart pounding. I’m like, ‘Oh my god is this it? Is this actually it?’ The adrenaline was so high I can’t even remember the conversation. All I can remember was Carlos’s voice from admissions saying they were excited to welcome me into medical school.”

She called her parents, both physicians, who were ecstatic about the news of Aya’s acceptance into the Fort Worth medical school.

“My dad is so philosophical. He started saying the stars were aligning and this is amazing you’re going to go to medical school with your brother,” Aya said. “He’s so dramatic but it is amazing.”

Their parents were supportive throughout the medical school application process.

Their father, Naim Al-Adli, M.D., a cardiologist at Fort Bend Heart Center in Sugar Land, graduated from the University of Jordan in 1979 and began practicing medicine in Saudi Arabia. He arrived in the United States a few years later when he became a resident at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

“So, we had the supportive father just being there for us every step of the way,” Nadeem said.

The same is true for their mother, Inshirah Al-Adli, M.D., who graduated from Zaporizhzhia State Medical University in Ukraine and later practiced as a Family Medicine physician in Saudi Arabia around the same time as their father.

“We all went through it together… just leaning on each other,” Nadeem said.

Even though the siblings have different schedules in medical school, they will always be supportive of each other.

“Knowing that you have a support system with your brother here feels good to know you’re not alone,” Aya said. “Typically, medical students struggle with maintaining connections with friends and not being able to see family but this is a unique opportunity. It is really going to allow Nadeem and I to remain close and actually strengthen our bond even more.”